SRC Asia Vol. 1: Ishiwatari, Seo Advance in Bantamweight Draw

TOKYO -- The first round of Sengoku Raiden Championship’s East
Asia-centered bantamweight tourney saw six Japanese and two South
Korean fighters advance to the next round at SRC “Asia Vol. 1” on
Sunday at the Differ Ariake Arena.

The highlight of the tournament’s first round was Shooto and
Sengoku veteran Shintaro
Ishiwatari fighting at his proper weight against the slippery
Nobuhiro
Yamauchi. Ishiwatari was his usual reckless self, swinging big
and missing by wide margins. Thus, Yamauchi racked up sharp low
kicks in the early moments and almost caught Ishiwatari with the
keylock while escaping from the back clinch.

Yamauchi’s luck, however, ran out while attempting to bait
Ishiwatari into his guard after falling to his back. Ishiwatari
passed and rained hammerfists onto Yamauchi’s jaw, scrambling his
senses in the process. Referee Yoshinori
Umeki jumped in for the save at the 3:13 mark.

Also putting on an impressive display was South Korea’s Sengoku
Gold Cup champion, Joo Hyon
Seo, who started the event with fireworks.

Both Seo and opponent Ichiro
Sugita rocked each other on the feet and traded dominant
positions on the ground throughout the bout. Seo, in particular,
impressed with a tight reverse triangle, from which he pounded away
at Sugita’s face between wrenching out his left arm for armbar
attempts. Sugita persevered, but by bout’s end, all three judges
saw the fight for Seo.

So was not the only Korean to impress, as Kil Woo Lee
ended his bout with Ayato
Taneichi almost as soon as it began. As both men met at the
center, Lee threw a flurry that landed flush on Taneichi’s chin,
sending him out cold into the ropes. Referee Umeki called the fight
10 seconds into round one.

Elsewhere, Pancrase alum Takuya
Eizumi had difficulty with Taro
Shimazaki’s length, but he did not let it stop him from
swarming Shimazaki on the feet and scrambling out from underneath
him when put on the mat. Shimazaki, a southpaw, also had his fair
share of troubles, as Eizumi successfully landed low kick-overhand
right combinations at will. As such, Eizumi’s tenacity and forward
momentum essentially earned him the “must” nod on all three draw
scorecards.

Last but not least, Shohei
Kondo juked and jived in an attempt to mask his winging
haymakers, but Kazushi
Sakuraba understudy Wataru
Takahashi saw through the distractions to counter punch
effectively and control Kondo on the floor. Takahashi eventually
locked up the rear-naked choke for the tapout 1:22 into the second
round.

Outside of the tournament, Masahiro
Toryu made quick work of Noah
Villanueva in a welterweight superfight, as he heel hooked
Villanueva for the tapout 2:56 into the first round. Meanwhile,
Koji
Kanechika took a grueling three-round “must” decision over
Sang
Soo Lee in a superfluous heavyweight “main event super
fight.”

Upon receiving his nod, Kanechika took to the microphone and issued
a challenge to 2008 Olympic gold medalist Satoshi
Ishii.